


New Traditions

by corvidkohai



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidkohai/pseuds/corvidkohai
Summary: AGSZC’s individual first experiences with snow, and their first experience with it as a group.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	New Traditions

Cloud did not remember the first time he saw snow. Apparently there was a huge blizzard in his first year, and that Cloud had tried to catch the snowflakes in his mouth, even that young. He had allegedly giggled at the feel of it on his skin, and when handed some, had squished it in his little fists, delighted. 

He had heard his mother reminisce about it a surplus of times. How they had been snowed in, and his mother would open the door anyway, just to let him paw at the wall of snow. She even had a baby picture of him, in her arms, holding a little, lopsided snowball. 

He didn’t remember his first time seeing snow, but he’d heard the story enough times. Not to mention had grown up around it constantly. Many Nibel folks hated the snow, but Cloud had always loved it. Maybe that had been ingrained in him that very first time. 

———

Sephiroth’s first experience with snow wasn’t exactly  _ real _ snow. It had been in the VR room, in a model of Modeoheim. He was being trained to handle all terrains, and the snow-covered tundra was one of them. 

When the program loaded, the icy wind blew through him hard enough to take his breath away. He had to gasp a few times before he could take a proper breath, the cold freezing his lungs. But when he could breathe again, he had looked up in wonder. 

The snow fell delicately on his face. His body temperature was naturally much higher, a side effect of the mako he had been told, and the snowflakes melted as they hit his skin. 

He watched the patterns of the snow swirling in the wind, lit by the moonlight above, until a harsh voice snapped in his ear to pay attention. 

He focused then, but was continuously distracted through the session. 

He may have only been eight, but the scientists still held that distraction against him. 

———————

Genesis, frankly, thought it was a garbage assignment, given by garbage people. 

He was perfectly content in tropical Banora, and Midgar’s strange (possibly unnatural) never-ending summer. He did not think it would be ‘good for him’ to see different climates. He did not think he needed to ‘cool off.’ He did not think snow would be ‘pretty’ or that icicles would be ‘cool’ and he had no interest in seeing his comrades slip and fall on the ice. He  _ certainly _ had no interest in falling himself—not that he would, of course, he was much too graceful. 

So, no, he did not enjoy his first exposure to snow at age 18. The wind was frigid, his socks cold and soaked, and his teeth chattered unpleasantly. 

The whole thing was a bit shit, really. He didn’t understand the hype. 

————————

Zack had taken to snow like a duck to water. 

His CO for the mission, some SOLDIER Second he would forget the name of soon, kept barking at him to stop playing. That didn’t stop him from trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue as they marched. It did not stop him from jumping to smack icicles off of high ledges. It did not stop him from ‘accidentally’ rolling down a snowy bank, or jumping in every nearby pile, or even lobbing a few snowballs. 

He had returned to Icicle Inn to his hot cocoa with a reddened face and a wide grin. He had barely finished the cocoa before asking if anyone wanted to go try and make a snow fort. 

He had no idea what Genesis was complaining about. 

——————————

Genesis complained often about favoritism in assignments, demanding that Angeal be sent somewhere cold instead of Genesis. It did not help that Sephiroth created the assignments, and that Sephiroth and Genesis enjoyed antagonizing each other, despite how they loved one another. Angeal had offered, multiple times, to take an assignment up north. Sephiroth had shut him down every time, telling him on the sly that he was having too much fun with it. 

And, well, Angeal didn’t really like the cold much. Sephiroth took joy in far too few things, too—far be it from him to take one away from him. 

Still, they had all known it would happen eventually. The day had come where all Firsts were busy, and a problem had come up in Icicle. He had gone, and told himself it wouldn’t be that bad. 

It wasn’t, really. Not anywhere near as dreadful as Genesis’s whining made it seem. Not as excellent as Cloud and Zack made it seem either. Just cold. 

Still. There was something to be said for a mug of hot cider, with the ceramic warming his palms, after his fingers had almost frozen off. 

————————

It had been a group decision, to spend Yule in Nibelheim. Cloud had been reluctant to return, given the boasting he had done before he left. But, he decided, it was more important for his lovers to meet his mother than anything else. 

Genesis had sucked up his griping, though Cloud had made it very clear that Nibelheim would be frozen and snowy this time of year. Zack had been thrilled. Sephiroth too, in his quiet way, where he wouldn’t admit to something he liked because someone along the line had taught him he shouldn’t like it. Angeal was more excited at the prospect of meeting Cloud’s mother. 

It had taken Cloud and Sephiroth each holding one of Zack’s hands, and Angeal gripping his shoulders, to keep him from being sidetracked by the snow. He was aching to go play, but they had a more important goal. 

Zack had managed to sit still through all of dinner, but when he tried to go out after, he had been stopped. Claudia herself had vetoed the idea. She insisted that it got much too cold after nightfall to be outside, especially playing in the snow. She said she would not lose her new sons just after getting them, and it had sounded so much like something his own mom would say that Zack relented. 

Still, he had gone out first thing in the morning. Cloud had gone with him, intent on showing him the  _ right _ way to play in the snow. They had dragged an (only seemingly) reluctant Sephiroth out with them. Genesis and Angeal shared coffee with Claudia, chatting and watching the others from the window. Sephiroth proved a little awkward in his attempts, but Cloud and Zack were more than happy to encourage, when his small smile outweighed any hesitancy. 

They decided, all piled in the same tiny bed together to ‘stay warm,’ that they had found their new Yule tradition. 


End file.
